Our day is filled with chaos and disorder. America and the nations of Europe have been suffering severely the past decade or so because of an overemphasis on the collective, as opposed to the individual. C.G. Jung would not share today’s obsession with collectivism. He had very specific ideas on individuals and what they offer mankind. The idea of individualism is inherent in Jung’s psychology–in his process of “individuation.” Even though there is, I believe, a phenomenon of world…

Continuing with my discussion of character, in this article I would like to explore reasons why the idea of “classical individualism” promotes and fosters the proper foundation for the full manifestation of human character. For one to fully blossom into one’s calling in life, the genius, the innate destiny of a person requires an environment that will facilitate one’s unfolding. A child is thrown into this world, but not as a tabula rasa. Yes, we are all thrown, but not into…

One rarely thinks of character until one grows older. As I approach the ripe old age of sixty, I have been thinking much about the idea of character. What is character? How is one’s character formed? What are the ramifications of having a good or bad character? The best starting point is to trace the etymology of the word. The word, “character,” is derived from the Greek word, “kharakter,” which means “engraved mark,” also “symbol or imprint on the soul,”…

Dostoevsky, in his classic book, Notes from the Underground, states I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness – a real thorough-going illness. For man’s everyday needs, it would have been quite enough to have the ordinary human consciousness, that is, half or a quarter of the amount which falls to the lot of a cultivated man . . .1 This is a very curious notion. One would think that greater consciousness, more awareness, is to…

…Go visit the Prairies in June, when for scores on scores of miles you wade knee-deep among Tiger-lilies—what is the one charm wanting?—Water—there is not a drop of water there! Were Niagara but a cataract of sand, would you travel your thousand miles to see it? Why did the poor poet of Tennessee, upon suddenly receiving two handfuls of silver, deliberate whether to buy him a coat, which he sadly needed, or invest his money in a pedestrian trip…

In this article, I will attempt to provide a brief summary of Colin Wilson’s thoughts regarding Martin Heidegger’s philosophy. Heidegger, of course, was one of the paramount figures in twentieth-century existentialist thought, even though he tried to distance himself from the movement known as existentialism, popularized by Sartre and Camus. Wilson proposes a “new existentialism,” which is more optimistic, as opposed to the pessimism of Sartre, Camus, et al. The exposition of his philosophy can be found in his book,…

I have wrestled with self-confidence all my life. I never had much confidence as long as I looked through the eyes of my natural self. Depression was my lot for many years. I felt that life had dealt me a very bad hand, indeed. As many of you know, this makes life insufferable, tedious, and meaningless. When I was in my twenties, I investigated Norman Vincent Peale’s so-called Power of Positive Thinking. I was inspired. I began to attempt to…

Psychological dictionaries and schools of all orientations agree that reality is of two kinds. First, the word means the totality of existing material objects or the sum of conditions of the external world. Reality is public, objective, social, and usually physical. Second, there is a psychic reality, not extended in space, the realm of private experience that is interior, wishful, imaginational. Having divided psychic reality from hard or external reality, psychology elaborates various theories to connect the two orders together,…

The great mystic, Meister Eckhart, wrote: We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly, but does not take place within myself? And, what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also…

William Blake is believed to have been heavily influenced by Emanuel Swedenborg, who taught “that the universe is contained in the Divine Humanity.”1 This view flips the typical materialist view inside-out. “The ‘body’ of the Divine Human is not contained in natural space but contains all things in itself.”2 The universe does not contain human beings; human beings contain the universe. The outer universe is but a shadow. This is a fascinating idea. It is a very old idea,…